Venue: Singapore Indoor Stadium
Date: 25th September 2022
Promoter: Midas Promotions
Review by: Anna F.
Special Thanks: The Midas Promotions Team
Photos by Alvin H.
Being the opening act for your heroes must be something one only dreams about doing. However, for Irish-Filipino singer Andreah, it’s been nothing short of a fairytale story, but very much a reality.
At about 7.50pm, she came onstage and began performing her songs, sharing the backstory behind each one of them, which made her music even more relatable. Her set included tunes like “Best Friend”, “Let Me Go Easy”, and her mom’s favourite: “So Far Away”, which saw the audience pulling out their phones and covering the arena in a blanket of flickering lights.
Backed by her friends in her band, with Noel on the keys, Sophia on guitar, and TJ on the drums, everything – from the atmosphere to the level of crowd interaction – felt just right. The charming singer also chatted with the audience, telling them to follow her on Instagram if they liked what they were hearing and she would follow them back.
Closing out with “You”, it was a happy ending for Andreah, who waved goodbye to her fans – old and new – knowing that only good things were on the cards.
With everyone warmed up, it was time for the much-awaited return of the Dubliners we all hold close to our hearts. Opening with “Superheroes”, off their fourth studio album, No Sound Without Silence, The Script emerged from the shadows and began to take their fans down memory lane with hits from their celebrated back catalogue in tow. As the first song ended, singer Danny O’Donoghue gazed gratefully at the relatively packed arena and asked, “Has it really been four years since we’ve been back, Singapore? We missed you guys.”
Over the course of the next 90 minutes, the Irish pop rock outfit painted the town a very scintillating green and put on a performance that segued effortlessly into and out of upbeat tunes to more mellow, wistful ones, some even bordering on being heartbreaking, but nonetheless relatable.
Made up of singer Danny O’Donoghue and drummer Glen Power, with Colin Rogers on guitar, Benjamin Sargeant helming the bass, and Curtis Stansfield on keyboards, the powerhouse rockstars got it more than right and gave everything they had. Having sold over 20 million albums worldwide, it wasn’t a surprise to see fans turn out in droves, and with arms wide open, ready to welcome back their favourite band. They’ve clearly got friends (and fans) that would run through walls for them.
It’s been almost three whole years since the beloved Dubliners put out their sixth studio album, and without sounding like another cliche, it didn’t matter in the slightest – they still managed to utilise their decorated arsenal of bangers to their advantage. In other words, they very effortlessly blew the roof off the place. And did it with an impressive amount of audience participation, too.
After “Paint the Town Green”, which saw the band making their way through the frenzied crowd in a drumline fashion, they maneuvred their way towards the audience seated further away to perform “If You Could See Me Now” and “Nothing” acoustically, surrounded by their fans who were now mere centimetres away. I guess it was just written in the stars for those lucky few. The latter number also saw Danny calling someone’s ex on the phone, introducing himself and saying, “This isn’t a joke. You’ll see this on the internet later,” which made everyone erupt in laughter.
The night took on a more serious note when the frontman shared how the pandemic turned their houses into prisons, keeping them locked away, and preventing them from doing what they truly loved but also forcing them to sit back and examine who they really were, and question if they truly liked themselves. The emotions that were clearly evident from the start of the night quickly began to make sense, as the eloquent singer-songwriter wore his heart on his sleeve, explaining how the last few years took a toll on everyone.
“Thank you so much for holding us on your shoulders for all these years. These are the types of nights that we’ll take to our graves,” O’Donoghue proclaimed, once again seemingly enamoured by the reaction they were receiving.
The band blazed through their hits, including “Breakeven”, “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved”, and “We Cry”, as well as slightly newer ones like “Something Unreal”, and “Dare You to Doubt Me”. “For the First Time” ended with the crowd singing the last three lines on repeat until the band emerged back onstage for the encore which consisted of three more songs – “No Good in Goodbye”, “Breakeven”, and motivational anthem “Hall of Fame”.
“We are all one. Music for me is the one true religion. It’s there for us no matter what happens in our lives. Thank you so much for giving us your energy. You mean the world to us,” Danny said as they bid farewell once again.
As the band made their way off stage, and we began making our way out of the stadium, we all felt a sense of pride knowing that these guys were as grateful for their fanbase as we were for their music. And their existing masterpieces of hits will be what we’ll keep on listening to.
24/7, baby – 365.